"There's a commercial where he was shown splitting the defence," Bouwmeester said of a goal Crosby scored against the Florida Panthers a few seasons ago.

"That was me."

At that time, Bouwmeester was used to facing Crosby and the rest of the Pittsburgh Penguins four times in a season.

Tonight's clash at the Saddledome between the Penguins and Flames is a one-shot deal this season, so you could sense the excitement among the team.

"These games are fun. You don't see these teams that much and they have some guys people here don't see much. It should be interesting," Bouwmeester said. "I don't know if (you have any extra bounce) or anything like that, but you take pride in trying to shut those guys down and not giving them a lot of chances.

"I probably know those guys more than most in this room from having been in the east, and there's a reason those guys score 100 points. It's because they're talented and if you give them too many opportunities, they'll put them in the net."

Like the time Crosby went between Bouwmeester and Ruslan Salei and lunged out to knock the puck into the net.

"Moreso than anyone else, if he gets space on you, he explodes through those holes," Bouwmeester said of Crosby. "He's a pretty special player. He can do it all. If the shots not there, he can make a pass. You have to watch him because he's dangerous the whole time.

"But if you look at their group of forwards, they're a pretty skilled bunch. You try to not give them the time and space to make their plays. If you make it easy for them, they'll score goals."

The fans, even those who support the Flames, will be expecting some goals tonight.

They'll just expect the Flames to fire at least one more. Still, Crosby's arrival puts quite a buzz into what could be a humdrum Wednesday night, mid-January game.

"He's a household name, so there's a lot of fans in every city that he's their favourite player. You have to expect a few Crosby jerseys in the stands," said centre Dustin Boyd. "The fans will be excited because he only comes around here once every so often, so there will be good atmosphere.

"We feed off the crowd, you get the crowd behind you and it's almost like a sixth man out there."

Then again, the Penguins are more than just Crosby.

The defending Stanley Cup champions have a potent roster also led by Evgeni Malkin -- last year's leading scorer -- whom Flames head coach Brent Sutter saw plenty of while coaching the New Jersey Devils the last two seasons.

"They're great players and you have to be aware when they're on the ice," Sutter said.

Defenceman Adam Pardy welcomes the challenge.

"You want to play against the best players in the league. This would be a huge two points for us," he said.